"You're signing over your company to your personal assistant," repeated Bella. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Yup."
"Why?" She didn't understand it. Not that she had anything against Pepper, but why on earth was he signing over the company at all?
He didn't answer.
Bella wobbled. Tony grabbed her arm to steady her. "You okay?"
"Just getting used to standing upright again," she replied. It was her first time really being up and about, walking around the house, since she'd woken up and she was feeling very unsteady. "Why are you signing your company over?"
"Just this way," said Tony, walking her into a large room. A boxing ring stood in the middle of the room. Off to the side were couches and chairs.
Bella sank down on one of the couches. She didn't think her legs could support her for much longer.
"You okay?" asked Tony.
Bella nodded.
Tony walked over to the boxing ring, where someone was waiting for him, his friend and bodyguard, who had said to call him Happy. Bella watched them for a while.
"You're finally up?"
Bella turned to see Pepper sitting down in the chair beside her.
"Yes."
"Tony, can you take a moment? The notary's here!" she called.
A woman had followed Pepper into the room and started going over the contents of a folder with her. At the sight of her, Tony stopped his match and stared.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Rushman, Natalie Rushman."
"Come on up." He lifted the ropes so the woman could climb into the boxing ring.
"You're seriously not going to ask her to–" began Pepper, but Natalie climbed into the ring.
Tony stared at Natalie. He didn't say anything. He just stared at her.
There was silence for a moment.
"Can you, uh, give her a lesson," said Tony to the man he had been boxing.
Bella pushed herself to her feet and walked over to the boxing ring, watching.
"You ever boxed before?" asked Happy.
"Yes, I have," replied Miss Rushman.
"How do you spell your name, Natalie?" asked Tony from the couch.
"R-U-S-H-M-A-N," she replied, casting a glance at Bella, but not saying anything.
"See? That's always lesson number one," said the man, throwing his hand at her while her head was turned away. "Always keep an eye on your oppone-"
She grabbed his arm and twisted, then brought him to the ground with her legs.
Bella gasped. Pepper yelled and jumped up from her chair.
"That's what I'm talking about," said Tony.
"I slipped," said the man.
Bella started laughing too.
Miss Rushman approached Mr. Stark and started going over things with him, and then left.
"I like her," said Tony.
Bella agreed.
"I think she's it," continued Tony.
"No, she isn't," said Pepper.
"What do you mean, she's 'it'?"
"I need a new assistant now that Pepper's running Stark Industries. I think that's her."
000000000
The look on Izzy's face when she stepped inside Tony's workshop reminded him of a five year old's on Christmas morning.
"Oh, wow," she said. "Those are your suits?" she gestured to the row of them on the wall.
"Yes."
"What's this?"
She reached toward the pieces of silvery metal on a table.
"Just something I'm working on," he replied. "It's another suit, only with a few changes."
"What sort of upgrades have you made since Afghanistan?"
"The suits fly now. And I upgraded the weapons. And I've connected them to JARVIS. He tells me how the systems are running and gives me information on my surroundings."
"That's brilliant."
"What do you think of the colors?"
"For you? They're perfect."
"What would you have picked? For you?"
Izzy studied the suits on the wall. "A dark shade of blue and silver," she replied. "Blue where yours are red, and silver where yours are gold."
Izzy walked over to the suits. "Has anyone tried to replicate them yet? I would be surprised if they hadn't. I mean, who wouldn't at least try if they had the resources?"
"They've tried all right. They can't," said Tony with a grin. "The government wants me to turn it over. Ever heard of Justin Hammer?"
"Yes," replied Izzy. "Has he tried to replicate your suit?" Her tone betrayed her doubt that Hammer could do it.
Her doubt, Tony thought, was very well founded. "Yes. Didn't go so well, but the government has him helping them. They made my best friend give information that would make me look bad. I'm sort of glad you weren't able to stand up yet, they probably would have made you do it too."
She went back to studying the pieces of silvery metal on the table. She glanced around the ceiling for a moment. She couldn't have missed the dents from the first couple suit testings. He'd never gotten around to having them fixed.
"Do you like Natalie?" he asked.
"What?" Izzy seemed to think for a moment. "Couldn't say. I don't know her."
"I'm thinking I'll hire her. With Stark Expo and no Pepper as my assistant, she'd be helpful."
Izzy shrugged. "If you think it's a good idea. But don't you think it's a bit odd that she was able to take down your bodyguard so easily?"
Even if it was a mistake – which he wouldn't know unless he hired her – it wasn't as if he was going to be around for much longer in any case.
Thank you to all you lovely readers and reviewers! Please leave your comments and any suggestions you might have in the box below. Unless, of course, all you have to say is "Your story is absolute rubbish", in which case, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.